A comfortable lights-to-flag win for Dumbrell in the first race, contested by each team's second driver, ensured Whincup would start from pole position for the main qualifying race featuring the V8 Supercars regulars.

The reigning champion led away from the Tekno Holden of Shane van Gisbergen, who joined Whincup on the front row thanks to Jonathon Webb hauling the car up from seventh on the grid to an impressive second place in the first race.

Whincup was unable to stretch the gap between himself and van Gisbergen to more than a second until the closing stages of the race, doing just enough to keep the New Zealander at bay and secure pole for Sunday's endurance classic.

Mark Winterbottom took a distant third place. His Ford Performance Racing team-mate Steve Owen had lost second place to Webb late on in the first race, but Winterbottom kept the Volvo of Scott McLaughlin frustrated for almost the entire 20-lap distance in part two.

Garth Tander, whose partner Warren Luff spent the first race going backwards from his front row grid slot, came home in fifth after passing Holden Racing Team team-mate James Courtney on the opening lap.

Craig Lowndes finished in seventh place, making up two positions at the start at the expense of David Reynolds and Tim Slade, while Fabian Coulthard rounded out the top 10 finishers in what was largely a processional encounter.